Gloria Steinem, the feminist icon who passed away this week at 92, spent decades fighting for women’s rights.
Through her work as an author, journalist, and public speaker, she amassed a net worth estimated at $10 million. But even as she fought for equal pay for women, she wasn’t someone who put much stock in money for money’s sake. When asked in 2018 what advice she had for college graduates, Steinem encouraged them to pursue work that matched their interests and talents—not simply the biggest paycheck.
“I would say do what you love, because each of us has unique interests and talents, and the more we can follow them, the more effective, happy, and successful we will be,” she said to The Cut in 2018.
“I want each of us to have a roof over our heads and enough food to eat — those things are important—but aside from those, money is boring, and as you may have noticed, groups of people based on money are boring.”
For Steinem, that philosophy was likely shaped in part by her unconventional upbringing. Born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1934, she was raised in a trailer home. Her father was a traveling antiques and jewelry salesman, and the family moved frequently, meaning Steinem rarely spent a full year at the same school.
“I remember driving, looking at houses with yards and fences and thinking, How great. I could live there and just walk to school,” she recalled to Architectural Digest in 2024.
But living on the road also taught her a valuable early lesson about appearances—and about assuming that everyone wants the same things.
“I kind of realized, too, that maybe the people who lived there wanted to live in a trailer,” Steinem added.
Her parents divorced in 1944, leaving the young Steinem to care for her mother, who struggled with mental illness. She later moved to Washington, D.C., with her sister, where she graduated high school. In 1956, she graduated from Smith College, a women’s liberal arts school in Massachusetts.
Even into her 90s, Gloria Steinem never stopped working for women’s rights: ‘Some of us live to work’
After college, Steinem became a journalist, notably going undercover to report on degrading conditions at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy empire in 1963—an assignment she later came to regret.
A few years later, she attended a meeting of women speaking out in favor of abortion rights. The experience helped change the course of her career, pushing Steinem toward activism and eventually making women’s rights her life’s work.
Even well into her later years, Steinem showed little interest in slowing down. She continued meeting with activists, speaking publicly, and working on the causes she cared about. At any given time, she said, she had a dozen or so projects underway.
“Most people must work to live, but some of us live to work,” Steinem said.
Her apartment in New York City’s Upper East Side became an iconic gathering place for activists, writers and political organizers—including members of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women earlier this year. It will continue to be used for gatherings and discussion after her death, the director of Gloria’s Foundation told The New York Times.
The spot also became emblematic of Steinem’s own perspective on success:
“It’s the moment when you feel you are doing something you care about, that you can be honest, and that you’re able to live in the moment.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
